If I were to ask you, which is the place that receives the highest rainfall in the world, you are very likely to answer Cherrapunji in Meghalaya. Well I have news for you. As of October 2, the Tamhini Ghat, just about two hours from Pune, Maharashtra has received 9644mm of rainfall as opposed to 7304mm received in Cherrapunji this year. By definition, this makes Tamhini Ghat the wettest place on earth this year. No, evo India has not opened up a weather channel as well. But this bit was the context for what you are about to read ahead.
Working on the 11th anniversary issue of evo India has been a taxing affair. There have been back-to-back shoots, continuous writing and editing, long hours in the office and as a consequence, very little time for ourselves. This generally does not bode well for me. And one evening in the office, I saw our colleague, Mandar, in a gloomy state. Upon enquiring, he too had bitten the bug of long working hours. Being a Punekar at heart though, he seemed to be rejoicing at the fact that the wettest place now resides just a couple of hours from his home. And over a cup of tea later, this conversation of solace, turned into a plan of action. Mandar and I will be heading to the Tamhini Ghat for a day trip to celebrate its wetness. We headed downstairs to choose our weapon for this exciting and maybe slightly precarious journey. Out of all the familiar cars in our long term fleet, The Hyundai Creta is rarely seen standing in the office garage. In its last six months, we have done multiple tests with it and established it as the best vehicle in its category time and again. And neither of us had ever got to take this one home, mostly because every person with the designation ‘senior and editor’ in the office somehow always wants it. Figuring that no one else needs it right now and since Sirish is out to Nardo to drive some Lamborghini, we wicked it away.
As breathtakingly beautiful the Tamhini Ghat is, it is also an extremely accident prone place. Tight turns, blind corners, narrow roads, undulated surfaces, wet and dry patches depending on the weather, and views that may take the driver’s eyes off the road - this may be India’s on Nurburgring, except it’s open to the public. Not that this was our reason to pick it, but it sure made the Creta a good choice. The ADAS system came useful through the day, especially when somehow the bikers always sneak up on you and are only detected by the blind spot monitor. Also the collision avoidance assist, which slammed the brakes on the car in two separate instances, may very well be the reason I am able to write this story as taking a u-turn on these ghats is nothing short of being perilous. The safety systems on this car may impart some of a cat’s lives to you.
Speaking of a cat, this thing is agile! You never realise this in the city, but here in these ghats, the Creta has blown me away. The car moves and handles so effortlessly that the glum looking Mandar from a day before was now a 12 year old who just realised that he has hit puberty. Our 1.5-litre turbo-petrol, 7DCT transmission equipped Creta, producing 158bhp and 253Nm was so much fun that the only challenge through the ghats was to keep ourselves in check at each corner. I in particular, just could not help myself putting the car in Sport mode and using the paddle shifts to bring the cogs down just before a corner and accelerate from the middle of the corner onwards and hit the pedal to the metal as soon as the steering started to straighten up, mimicking the style of Mika Hakkinen, who I saw earlier this month around a go kart track and picked a few traits.
Since I just mentioned steering, here comes a short rant. Too often I have complained about the electronic power steering calibration on the cars these days. Even the best of handlers lose all feeling when their steering is so lifeless. Hyundai, though, has got this absolutely spot on! In the Creta it is light at low speeds, making manoeuvring within the city an easy task and weighs up as the car speeds up. And it does this so seamlessly that you never even feel the need to readjust yourself at each corner. I love it and will go out and probably even name this particular aspect of the car the one single reason why it is the best in the segment. That is how important I believe the steering calibration is - it is the main source of your communication with the car.
While I was having my own wet moments with the car, the weather itself was nothing like. The ghat that won the honours for being the wettest place on earth this year, was bone dry and sunny on the exact day we decided to visit it. So we decided to amuse ourselves by listening to some music and admire the views, which even in this sunny weather were awe-striking. The ventilated seats kept us cool in this hot weather and the Bose audio system had us grooving and zoning into a delightful mood. But it was the massive panoramic sunroof that made Mandar move to the back seat so that he could be pleased by the towering hills passing us by. He comfortably gorged at the mountains draped in lush emerald greens that shimmer with the kiss of mist, with waterfalls tumbling down the occasional rocky faces. And I obliged, since we were both enjoying the surroundings in our own ways.
This was a good day, away from the madness occurring on our desks for a change and getting to road trip in a car that is everyone’s favourite, yet hard to get, considering its demand in the office. My final observation about the car came to me while we were on our way back and I could now finally focus solely on the road and the car. It has been with us for six months, has been driven by a few different people, has endured the tests we have put it through, and yet not a single sound of disdain comes from it. No squeaks or rattles, no signs of it needing any repair, and definitely no loss of any kind of mechanical performance. In fact, since it has come to us, the only thing we have given it is fuel. Its reliability and dependability combined with the comfort and performance and the sheer amount of tech stuffed in the car is probably why it easily owns its segment, which has been aptly christened the ‘Creta class’. As for Tamhini, she alluded us of rain on this visit, but that will not take away its title for the year, and its beauty, well we will let the photos here do the talking for that.